作業間的語意關聯性對工作記憶的影響

The Effect of Semantic Relatedness between Storage and Processing on Working Memory

大多數的工作記憶理論認為，複雜廣度作業中的處理作業與儲存作業彼此是一種競爭的關係。本研究使用念字廣度作業，並操弄處理作業的認知負荷以及處理作業與儲存作業之間的語意關聯性，以探討處理作業的語意表徵對參與者回憶表現的影響。本研究共設計三個實驗，皆採完全組內設計，各比較30個參與者的工作記憶表現。實驗一同時比較參與者在高低兩種認知負荷的處理作業情境下，以及語意相關與語意不相關兩種念字廣度作業中的回憶正確率。結果發現，處理作業的認知負荷會干擾參與者的回憶表現，而當處理作業與儲存作業有語意上的關聯時，處理作業的語意表徵會促進參與者的回憶表現。實驗二探討處理作業對參與者回憶表現的語意促進效果，是決定於處理字詞的呈現時間或是處理字詞的呈現數量。結果發現，處理字詞的呈現時間縮短後，處理作業不再對儲存作業有語意促進效果。實驗三進一步控制執行處理作業所產生的認知負荷，結果顯示，處理作業與儲存作業間的語意關聯性仍然促進參與者的回憶表現。綜合本研究的實驗結果，參與者在語文工作記憶作業的表現，除了受到執行處理作業所產生的認知負荷的影響之外，還會受到處理作業與儲存作業間語意關聯性的影響。文末針對參與者利用處理作業作為複雜廣度作業的提取線索做進一步的探討。

Most working memory theories focus on the competition in attentional resources between the processing and storage components of a complex span task. The purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of semantic relationship between the processing and storage tasks on the span performance. Here we report three within-subjects experiments manipulating both cognitive load and semantic relatedness between the processing and storage tasks within a naming span task. Experiment 1 found that semantic relatedness enhanced participants' span performance. Experiment 2 showed that the beneficial effect of semantic relatedness was disappeared after the presentation duration of processing items within a test trial was reduced. Experiment 3 controlled the semantic relatedness of processing items and also found the beneficial effect of semantic relatedness between the processing and storage tasks. These findings demonstrated that semantic relatedness and cognitive load have independent contribution to memory performance. Results are discussed in terms of the processing task as a retrieval cue in a complex span task.